Subnautica 2 Tadpole Vehicle Guide: How to Unlock & All 3 Chassis Types

The Tadpole is your first vehicle on Zezura, and it changes everything. No more counting breath seconds. No more slow-swimming across 300 meters of open water. No more dying because you pushed one cave too deep. Once you’re in the Tadpole, the ocean opens up.

Getting it takes work. Three fragments scattered across the map, each in a different location, each guarded by something unpleasant. Here’s exactly where to find them and which chassis to pick once you’ve got the blueprint.

What Is the Tadpole?

The Tadpole is a one-person submersible. Think of it as a personal submarine — small, maneuverable, and sealed with its own oxygen supply. You climb in, the hatch closes, and you can explore deeper, faster, and safer than free-swimming allows.

It has three interchangeable chassis types that change its role completely. Same base vehicle, three different specializations. More on those below.

Finding All 3 Fragments

You need to scan three Tadpole fragments to unlock the blueprint. Each fragment is in a different part of the map, and the game doesn’t mark them for you. Here are the exact locations.

Fragment 1: Blackbox Ruby

Location: Approximately 420m north-northeast of the Lifepod Landmark: Near a crashed Alterra ship and the Ruby Blackbox recording Depth: 40-60m

Head north-northeast from your Lifepod. You’re looking for the Blackbox Ruby area — the fragment sits on a plateau near a crashed Alterra ship, right next to where you pick up the Ruby Blackbox recording. The ship wreckage is the biggest landmark in the area.

The swim is long without a vehicle (ironic, since you’re trying to build one). Bring a full oxygen tank, ideally the Standard Air Tank with the +30 bonus. Consider dropping a beacon at the Lifepod so you can navigate back. The terrain gets confusing past 300m.

Threats: Moderate fauna activity. Nothing that will one-shot you, but don’t linger if something aggressive shows up.

Fragment 2: Cicada Wreck / Lander Garage

Location: Approximately 380m east-northeast of the Lifepod Landmark: Next to a Bioreactor unit at the Cicada Wreck Depth: 50-80m

The Cicada Wreck is a downed spacecraft, and the Lander Garage section is where this fragment lives. Look for it near a Bioreactor unit on the wreck. The wreck is large enough to spot from a distance — look for the angular metal structure on the seafloor.

This is deeper than Fragment 1. You’ll want your Standard Air Tank and possibly an Air Bladder for emergency ascent. The wreck itself provides some shelter from fauna, but the surrounding area has more aggressive creatures than the starter zone.

Bonus: While you’re here, scan everything you can on the wreck. It has fragments for other tech beyond the Tadpole.

Fragment 3: Colonist Bunker

Location: Approximately 280m southwest of the Lifepod Landmark: Near Blackbox Wander Depth: 30-50m

The Colonist Bunker is the closest fragment to home and the easiest to reach. Head southwest from the Lifepod, looking for the Blackbox Wander location. The fragment is near the bunker structure.

This is the shallowest of the three fragments and the least dangerous approach. If you’re grabbing fragments in order, I’d actually recommend starting here, then going to Fragment 1 (northeast), and finishing at the Cicada Wreck (east-northeast) since that’s the deepest.

Route recommendation:

1. Colonist Bunker (280m SW) — shallowest, safest
2. Blackbox Ruby (420m NNE) — medium depth, moderate danger
3. Cicada Wreck (380m ENE) — deepest, most challenging

Crafting the Tadpole

Once you’ve scanned all three fragments, the Tadpole blueprint unlocks in your Fabricator. The exact crafting recipe requires materials you’ve been gathering throughout early game:

• Titanium (multiple)
• Copper
• Glass
• Wiring Kit
• Battery or Power Cell

Gather everything before you start crafting. Having to abandon a half-built vehicle to go mine Copper is frustrating.

You’ll build it at a Mobile Vehicle Bay or equivalent construction interface. Deploy the bay in open water with enough clearance, select the Tadpole, and watch it assemble.

The Three Chassis Types

This is where the Tadpole gets interesting. Three chassis, three completely different vehicles. You choose one during construction, and each transforms the Tadpole’s function.

Haul Chassis

Role: Cargo transport Best for: Resource gathering, base supply runs, material hauling

The Haul chassis turns your Tadpole into a pickup truck. Extra storage compartments replace speed and combat capability. If your gameplay loop involves mining a resource node and hauling materials back to base, this is your chassis.

Strengths:

• Significantly expanded inventory space
• Perfect for mid-game base expansion when you’re moving bulk materials
• Great for co-op where one player does resource runs

Weaknesses:

• Slower than the ScoutRay
• No walker mode like the Seafrog
• Less versatile for exploration

Pick this if: You’re tired of making five trips to move Titanium from the Old Habitat caves to your base.

Seafrog Chassis (Coming in a Future Update)

Role: Exosuit / Walker Best for: Seabed walking, heavy-duty work, terrain traversal

Note: The Seafrog chassis is announced but does not have a crafting recipe in the current Early Access build. Unknown Worlds has flagged it as a post-launch addition arriving in a later Early Access update. The information below is based on what’s been revealed so far.

The Seafrog transforms the Tadpole into a walker — an underwater exosuit with legs. You can walk along the seafloor, climb terrain features, and operate in areas where swimming is impractical. Think of the PRAWN Suit from the original Subnautica. That lineage.

Strengths:

• Walk the ocean floor, reaching areas swimmers can’t
• Better stability in strong currents
• The most walker mobility abilities of any chassis
• Works in tight cave systems where maneuvering a submarine is awkward

Weaknesses:

• Not yet craftable in the current Early Access build
• Slow horizontal travel compared to swimming or the ScoutRay
• Not ideal for open-water traversal

Pick this if: You want to explore cave systems and the seabed on foot — once it’s available in a future update.

ScoutRay Chassis

Role: Speed and exploration Best for: Long-distance travel, area scouting, fast transit

The ScoutRay is the speedboat. Maximum velocity, streamlined profile, built for covering ground fast. If you need to scout a location 600 meters from base, the ScoutRay gets you there and back before your oxygen would have run out free-swimming.

Strengths:

• Fastest chassis by a significant margin
• Best for initial exploration of new biomes
• Efficient power consumption relative to distance covered
• Agile enough to dodge fauna

Weaknesses:

• Least cargo space of the three
• No walker mode
• Speed can get you into trouble — outrunning your knowledge of an area

Pick this if: Exploration is your priority and you want to map out Zezura’s biomes efficiently.

Which Chassis Should You Pick First?

My recommendation: ScoutRay for your first Tadpole.

Speed matters most in the mid game. You’ve already done the slow, careful exploration of the starting area. Now you need to reach the Bloom Infestation (200m NW), the Tadpole Pens (675m E), and other distant story locations. The ScoutRay gets you there without burning an entire play session on travel time.

Build the Haul chassis second when your base-building phase kicks into high gear and you need to move bulk materials. The Seafrog will be available in a future Early Access update for late-game cave exploration and seabed traversal.

In co-op, split your chassis choices. One ScoutRay for scouting, one Haul for supply runs. If you have a third player, the Seafrog covers terrain work.

Tadpole Pens (Story Location)

At 675 meters east of the Lifepod, the Tadpole Pens are a story-critical location. You’ll need the Heat Tolerance adaptation to reach it, which requires clearing Bloom Cankers with the Sonic Resonator first. The Pens themselves are where you learn more about the Tadpole’s origins and unlock additional vehicle content.

Don’t try to rush the Pens. Get your Tadpole built, clear the Bloom Infestation, earn Heat Tolerance, and then make the journey east. It’s a one-way commitment without a forward base — build an outpost along the route if you can.

Tadpole Tips

• Park smart. Don’t leave your Tadpole in the open where fauna can bump into it. Dock it at your base or park it in a sheltered spot
• Check power. The Tadpole runs on its own power cell. If it dies mid-ocean, you’re swimming home. Monitor the charge
• Use the headlights. Deep water is dark. The Tadpole’s lights are your best tool for spotting resources, fragments, and threats
• Don’t fight in it. The Tadpole isn’t a combat vehicle. Outrun threats, don’t try to ram them

The Trident multi-crew submarine is coming in a later Early Access update. For now, the Tadpole is the only vehicle available. Make it count.